CNN reports that, yes, the economy has caused stress for many American’s and according to the National Sleep Foundations annual poll, it is estimated that we are only getting 6.7 hours of sleep a day. Take into consideration the Daylight Saving Time change that just occurred beginning Sunday, March 8, 2009, American’s are losing another hour of precious sleep. The poll suggests that over the last few decades we have been increasingly losing slumber with very few people getting even 8 hours a night. Dr. Raj Kakar, a medical director at the Dallas Center for Sleep disorder notes, “In the last few years, we’ve seen the economy take a nose dive and more people are affected by that”.

Sleep deprivation can come from many things. We now have the Internet, video games, TV and Blackberries, which are things we did not have 20 years ago. All these things cause distractions in our lives, causing us to get less and less sleep. The effects of sleep deprivation include depression, anxiety, cardiovascular problems and car accidents. It is recommended to get at least seven to eight hours of sleep a day, but for may people struggling with finances and the economy, this can be almost impossible. When figuring out how much sleep you get a night, take into consideration the amount of time that you toss and turn and are not actually sleeping. Only count the hours that you are actually sleeping and try to increase it from there. Also, try working out daily to provide you with more energy, which is a stress reliever that may help you sleep better.

Many American’s are struggling with the reality of working longer hours to avoid a possible layoff and to be able to maintain their workload. When a person needs more time in a day, they ultimately borrow it from sleep. It may be we have to look at cutting some other distractions out of our lives for the time being and focus more on our health and well-being to see us through the current crisis with the economy.